JEDDAH, 21 November 2007 — A Filipino driver who was spared from execution in Taif has been reunited with his family in the Philippines yesterday, the Philippine Consulate General said yesterday.
Ronilo Arandia arrived in Manila on Monday night on board a Saudi Airlines flight after he was set free on orders of a local court, three years after he killed a Pakistani co-worker.
According to the consulate, the 46-year-old from Cavite province, south of Manila, was sentenced to death after finding him guilty of stabbing to death Jameel Al-Rahman, a co-worker at a palace in Taif where the two were both assigned.
A court cited the testimony of Mohammad Khan, the palace manager, as saying Arandia stabbed Jameel repeatedly when the latter confronted him in a possible love triangle case.
Jameel was said to have gotten jealous with Arandia, whom he accused of having an illicit relationship with another co-worker, a Filipino woman named Hannah Beniera.
Arandia’s death sentence was later commuted to a 5-year imprisonment after he was forgiven by the victim’s family following the payment of diyah (blood money) raised with the help of an unnamed philanthropist. Beniera, who was found guilty of engaging in an illicit relationship, was deported to the Philippines after serving her sentence.
“The release of Arandia is an early gift for the holiday season to him and his family,” Consul General Pendosina Lomondot said. He said he was also elated with Arandia’s release and repatriation, coming at a time when he is about to leave his post.
Lomondot will be given a new assignment in the Philippines after a three-year extension of his overseas tour of duty.
Montaser Pasandalan, a consulate staff who was among the last to visit Arandia in prison, said Arandia’s wife was allowed to join officials of the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs during negotiations with Jameel’s family in Pakistan.
The last Filipino to be executed in the Kingdom was a 41-year-old former welder, who worked at an auto shop in Riyadh.
Reynaldo Cortez was beheaded on June 13, leaving behind a wife and six children. Cortez, a provincemate of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in Pampanga, was ordered executed by a local court after family of the Pakistani man he killed declined a SR100,000 blood money offer.
